Commentary Par III 88-90

Piccarda's words have finally made it plain to Dante how one can be nearer or closer to God in Heaven and yet feel equally blessed with all who share beatitude, disregarding the matter of relative rank.  Once again the phrasing, now representing not so much the response of the protagonist (see [Par III 64-66]) as the understanding of the poet, raises the question that is necessarily so persistent for a reader of this canto: Do references to paradisal 'placement' speak of the ranked order of the saved in the Rose in the Empyrean or of their presences in the celestial spheres?  Once we arrive in the Rose (Par. XXXII), we will see that there is a ranking (by one's row in the Rose bowl); on the other hand, there does not seem to be much in the way of ranking going on within each sphere (there may be some in Jupiter), if the spheres themselves are ranked, progressing from lowest to most exalted.  Again, see C.Par.III.29-30.